QNews for February 23rd 2025

Q-News AR News from Queensland

DARLING DOWNS RADIO CLUB

our website at ddrci.org.au, and the WICEN info is on brisbanewicen.org.au. If you can't find what you're looking for, use the club website contact page to get in touch. And membership is half-price right now, so what better time to renew or become a member for the first time.

Until next week, 73s from John, VK4JPM for the DDRCi.

Redcliffe & District Radio Club VK4RC.

REDFEST 25 "Adventures on HF" will be held on the 12th April 2025. Gates open at 9:00AM. Our new venue will be The Deception Bay North State School, Old Bay Road, Deception Bay. Go to: redclifferadioclub.org.au/redfest to order your tickets.Bye for now and 73's from The Redcliffe & Districts Radio Club VK4RC. Thank you and 73's Robert Thomson VK4TFN

WICEN News for Sunday 23 February. If you're in SE Queensland and use the UHF repeaters that support WICEN comms, including VK4RZA, VK4RZB, VK4RZC and VK4RTQ, these repeaters are being reworked, improved and reconnected and are performing much better. As part of the rework, these repeaters also have been linked.

VK4RZA Springbrook (Gold Coast) transmits on 431.100 MHz VK4RZB Mt Coot-tha (Brisbane) transmits on 431.200 MHz and VK4RTQ Mt Kynoch (Toowoomba) transmits on 431.025 MHz all listening with a minus 7MHz offset, and requiring a 91.5Hz CTCSS tone.

From the Brisbane WICEN Group comes news of the Southbrook horse endurance ride runs on 8/9th March 2025, and the event is run by TEHRA (Toowoomba Endurance Heritage Riders Association) Southbrook Cricket Club is the venue for the ride.

Hello, I’m Geoff Emery, VK4ZPP, and I’ve been thinking. The apocryphal saying that stalks the internet, “May you live in interesting times” certainly seems to be the situation for us now. We amateurs often point the finger at ourselves for not being good communicators in that we can get messages stacked and waiting when it comes to our pursuit. Overseas we see the efforts of a new government flailing and stumbling to rapidly achieve promises made in election campaigns. For us who are outside the USA, it is an amazing spectacle and at times a frightening one to watch the reports and analyses of the actions befalling Uncle Sam. Whilst we think of sovereign countries as governing for the good of their own people, when one nation achieves superiority in many spheres of activity and interacts with other nations through treaties and international law we can have many dilemmas facing us when the 1000-pound gorilla in the room no longer accepts the benefits of consistent behaviours. We can take heart that as our country moves towards an impending election we will have a consistency of behaviour and conduct established by our constitution and law. We radio amateurs will still be able to operate and know that our ACMA will still operate in familiar ways. Barring war or similar cataclysm we will not be taken off the airwaves. Whilst this country does have certain media outlets with stated political affiliations or biases, we are still able with relative ease to get news reports which provide clarity to happenings here at home and overseas. We have seen, over many years, divisions occur within the structure of national amateur radio bodies from Europe to North American countries. At times hams seem to take themselves very seriously and find splitting national bodies a better solution than struggling to repair apparent failings. Recent history has demonstrated this here, too. We have our election within the WIA running and we are facing a Federal parliamentary election before tax return time. We are fortunate that the systems which establish the rules for the elections we can expect things to continue without the heartache and angst we are seeing festering in our Pacific neighbour. It has been the policy of amateur radio from its inception in this country that it should be free of partisan politics. I’m Geoff Emery VK4ZPP and that’s what I think….how about you?